Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi

Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi
Born 1975 (age 40–41)[1]
Houston, Texas
Residence Memphis, Tennessee
Nationality American
Education M.A. Islamic Creed
B.A. Islamic Sciences
Associate's degree Arabic Language
Islamic University of Madinah
Ph.D Islamic Studies
M.Phil Islamic Studies
Yale University
B.Sc Chemical Engineering
University of Houston[2]
Alma mater Islamic University of Madinah
Yale University
University of Houston[2]
Occupation Instructor
Title Dean of Academic Affairs
Al-Maghrib Institute
Religion Islam
Website MuslimMatters.org

Yasir Qadhi (also spelled Yasir Kazi[3]) is an American Muslim scholar and writer of Pakistani descent. Since 2001 he has served as Dean of Academic Affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute, an international Islamic educational institution with a center in Houston, Texas. He also teaches in the Religious Studies department at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, where he resides.

Qadhi has written numerous books, and lectured widely on Islam and contemporary Muslim issues.[2][4] A 2011 New York Times Magazine essay described Qadhi as "one of the most influential conservative clerics in American Islam".[5]

Early years

Qadhi was born in Houston, Texas, to parents of Pakistani origin.[2][5][6] When Qadhi was five, the family moved to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he attended local schools. He graduated from high school two years early as class valedictorian.[5] He returned to the United States, where he earned a B.Sc in Chemical Engineering at the University of Houston.[2]

At the age of 17 Qadhi became influenced by the Salafi teacher Ali al-Tamimi.[7][8] Qadhi studied under al-Tamimi. Years later in 2010 he stated that al-Tamimi "played an instrumental role in shaping and directing me to take the path that has led me to where I am today."[9] Al-Tamimi was sentenced in July 2005 to life imprisonment in the United Kingdom for inciting terrorism.[10]

After a short stint working in engineering at Dow Chemical, in 1996 Qadhi enrolled at the Islamic University of Medina in Medina, Saudi Arabia. There he earned a bachelor's degree in Arabic from the university's College of Hadith and Islamic Sciences and a master's degree in Islamic Theology from its College of Dawah.[2][4][6]

Qadhi returned to the United States in 2005 after working and studying for nine years in Saudi Arabia.[6] He completed a doctorate in theology at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.[2][4]

Professional career

Qadhi teaches in the Religious Studies Department of Rhodes College, in Memphis, Tennessee. He also has served since 2001 as the Dean of Academic Affairs and an instructor for the AlMaghrib Institute.[4] This is a seminar-based Islamic education institution founded in 2001. The instructors travel to designated centers in the US (Houston, Texas), Canada (Ottawa, Ontario), and the UK (London) to teach Islamic studies in English. A center has been added in Malayasia.[6]

Qadhi notes that some of the practices he endorses are similar to those practiced by conservative Christian groups and Orthodox Jews in the United States. For instance, he says that each group observes dietary laws (which sometimes cover acceptable drinks), stress family values, and require modest dress for women.[6]

Qadhi was a guest subject on an episode of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates's television genealogy series Finding Your Roots on PBS.[1]

Views on jihad

Qadhi has presented papers on jihad movements. In 2006, at a conference at Harvard Law School, Qadhi presented a 15-minute analysis of the theological underpinnings of an early militant movement in modern Saudi Arabia headed by Juhayman al-Otaibi. The movement had gained international attention when it held the Grand Mosque of Mecca hostage in 1979.[11]

In September 2009, he presented a paper at an international conference at the University of Edinburgh on understanding jihad in the modern world. He discussed how the specific legal ruling (fatwā) of the 13–14th century theologian Ibn Taymiyya has been since used in the 20th and 21st centuries by both jihadist and pacifist groups to justify their positions.[12] The paper has been critiqued, by some Salafi commentators.[13]

Views on Islamic extremism

Qadhi is a critic of extremist violence and believes that terrorism is antithetical to Islamic values. He tackles political grievances of Muslims. He has criticized United States foreign policy, which he believes many Muslims object to in terms of US actions in Muslim countries. He has also criticized how extremists use religious claims to justify their violence.[14]

Death threat by Islamic State of Iraq and the Syria

In the April 2016 issue of Dabiq Magazine, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant declared Qadhi, along with Hamza Yusuf, Bilal Philips, Suhaib Webb and numerous other Western Islamic scholars, as murtadds (or apostates).[15] It threatened to kill them for denouncing ISIS and the shooting attacks in Paris on the Charlie Hebdo offices.[16]

Controversies

In January 2010, the British The Daily Telegraph reported that in 2001 Qadhi had described the Holocaust as a hoax and false propaganda, and had claimed that "Hitler never intended to mass-destroy the Jews."[17] The following year, the New York Times recounted his claim that most Islamic-studies professors in the United States are Jews who “want to destroy us.”[5]

Qadhi denied stating that the Holocaust was a hoax or that it was false propaganda, but in 2008 admitted that he had briefly held mistaken beliefs about the Holocaust, and had said "that Hitler never actually intended to massacre the Jews, he actually wanted to expel them to neighboring lands". Qadhi acknowledged that his views were wrong and said "I admit it was an error".[18]

Qadhi added that he firmly believes "that the Holocaust was one of the worst crimes against humanity that the 20th century has witnessed" and that "the systematic dehumanization of the Jews in the public eye of the Germans was a necessary precursor" for that tragedy.[18] More generally, he has admitted that he "fell down a slippery slope", expressing anger at actions of the Israeli government in the form of anti-Semitic remarks he later recognized as wrong.[5]

In July 2010, Qadhi was selected to participate in an official delegation of eight U.S. imams and Jewish religious leaders to visit the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Dachau. The imams subsequently released a joint statement condemning anti-Semitism and labeling Holocaust denial as against the ethics of Islam.[19]

Books authored or co-authored

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Profile: "Yasir Qadhi", Finding Your Roots, PBS
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dooley, Tara (October 8, 2005). "A Changing World; American and Muslim; Islamic scholar, a Houston native, brings cultural insight to lectures on his religion". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Murphy, Caryle (September 5, 2006). "For Conservative Muslims, Goal of Isolation a Challenge". Washington Post. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Elliot, Andrea (April 17, 2011). "Why Yasir Qadhi Wants to Talk About Jihad", New York Times.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 O’Leary, Mary E. (January 4, 2009). "An American Muslim envisions a new kind of learning". New Haven Register. Retrieved February 2, 2010.
  7. ↑ "An American Cleric - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  8. ↑ Elliott, Andrea (2011-03-17). "Why Yasir Qadhi Wants to Talk About Jihad". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  9. ↑ Macedo, Diane (2010-08-09). "Plans to Build Massive Islamic Centers Raise Concerns in Tennessee | Fox News". Fox News. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  10. ↑ Markon, Jerry (2005-07-14). "Muslim Lecturer Sentenced To Life". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  11. ↑ "V International Conference on Islamic Legal Studies; "Lawful and Unlawful Violence in Islamic Law and History", Islamic Legal Studies Program, Harvard Law School, September 8–10, 2006, accessed February 2, 2010
  12. ↑ "Rethinking Jihad: Ideas, Politics and Conflict in the Arab World & Beyond; Programme", University of Edinburgh, September 7, 2009, accessed February 2, 2010 Archived May 28, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ↑ "Did Modern Salafi Scholars Invent the Notion of 'Istihlal'? A Critique of Yasir Qadhi's Paper", Salafimanhaj
  14. ↑ "Are Mosques Conduits For Extremism? How Muslim Leaders Are Fighting Terrorism", International Business Times
  15. ↑ "Kill the Imams of the West" (PDF). Dabiq 1437 Rajab (April - May 2016). Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (14): 8–18. Retrieved 2016-04-30. Yasir Qadhi, the “Salafī”-turned-“Revivalist” spokesman for Western society who has called upon his followers to cooperate with kāfir law enforcement officers, published an article he called, “A Proud, Patriotic, Shariah Practicing American.” Like other writings and speeches, Yasir emphasizes his love for the United States and his disavowal of anything and anyone who is against American ideals. He says, “The Constitution of my homeland – the United States of America – mandates the separation of church and state. My fellow American Muslims and I understand, appreciate and fully support that mandate.”(p. 16)
  16. ↑ Goodsteinmay 8, 2016, Laurie (8 May 2016). "Muslim Leaders Wage Theological Battle, Stoking ISIS' Anger". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  17. ↑ Sawer, Patrick (January 2, 2010). "Detroit bomber's mentor continues to influence British mosques and universities". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  18. 1 2 Qadhi, Yasir (2008-11-10). "GPU '08 with Yasir Qadhi: When Islamophobia Meets Perceived Anti-Semitism".
  19. ↑ "U.S. Muslim group denounces 'historic injustice of the Holocaust'". CNN.

External links

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